


A Night in the Pit

by firefly115



Series: From the Glade to the Paradise [1]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Gally is actually a big softy, Gally is just jealous, Gen, M/M, canon AU, everyone loves newt, on the Glade, some kind of hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 14:45:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15245652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly115/pseuds/firefly115
Summary: After Thomas ran into the Maze and survived the night, Gally wanted the Greenie to be severely punished for breaking the rules. But Newt obviously took Thomas' side on the matter, which made Gally furious (and maybe jealous?). He found an excuse and sent Newt to the Pit for revenge. However, things did not turn out exactly as he had intended.





	A Night in the Pit

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after Thomas and Minho found the transmitter, and before they set out to investigate section 7.

Newt had never spent time in the Pit before. After all, he had always been well behaved and well liked on the Glade. Besides, he had the seniority to call most of the Gladers "Greenie", and was actually involved in the making of all the rules in this place. Therefore, he found it amusing, more than anything else, when Gally marched him to serve out his first ever "Pit sentence". He decided to take it with good humor and view it as a completion of his "Glader experience". 

Actually, Newt didn't even do anything bad enough to deserve the Pit. 

Alby had been very ill ever since his encounter with the griever. Though the mysterious cure that came with Teresa repressed his tendency to kill everyone in his sight, he still suffered from infection and constant fevers. As Alby's closest friend on the Glade, Newt was deeply concerned about his condition and often spent time taking care of him in the medical shed. And as the second-in-command, he took over most of Alby's duties to lead the boys. The steep increase of workload and the shadow of uncertainty brought by Thomas' reckless challenges to orthodox often kept the boy up at night. The loss of sleep made him drowsy during the day, and that is why he fell asleep on Alby's bedside this morning, when he was caring for the fallen leader.  
Because of this unplanned nap, Newt completely missed his appointment with Gally to help with the logging. 

Gally was never the type to go down without a complaint, especially after Newt got on his nerve by backing Thomas on various issues. On the keepers' meeting this afternoon, he accused Newt of being a slacker.Though all the other keepers sympathized with Newt on the incident, Gally's persistence eventually drove Newt to give himself a night in the Pit for punishment, which made Minho and Thomas furious. The acting leader had to stop the two boys from charging on Gally with all the strength that his slender form can master.

On the way to the Pit, Gally kept a tight grab on Newt's arm,as if expecting the prisoner-to-be to bolt at any moment. Newt held back an eyeroll at such childish and unnecessary behavior.  
"Relax, Gally. You know I can never outrun you with only one good leg, right?"  
His attempt to relieve the tension fell onto deaf ears. But to his surprise, the Builder brought him to the cleanest and most spacious cell among the limited choices.  
"Go in." Gally held open the door like a gentleman.  
Newt eyed the builder with an amused smile, and jumped obediently into the cell. Somewhat annoyed by that smile, Gally closed the door with unnecessary strength and tied up the ropes tightly.However, the sight of the blonde behind the wooden grits seemed to be more bothersome to him than satisfying. In the dim light of the torch, he could faintly discern Newt's fine features. The sutle forgiveness and understanding in those bright eyes startled Gally.  
"It's alright, Gally. Good night."  
The builder turned and ran off, stumbled by a rock on his way.

"Still such a child." Newt mumbled with an arched eyebrow, totally unaware of the fact that he was actually younger than Gally.  
Darkness enveloped everything as the night fell. The outlines of grass blades and trees are vaguely illuminated by the distant torch light. Newt had never observed this "oasis" they lived in from such a strange angle. When the eyes are so close to the ground, the humble grass appear to have become mighty forests, almost completely obliterated the huge walls that had trapped them in for the past three years, making the glade seem mysterious and vast. Maybe in the eyes of ants and rats, this place is not a bad choice for permanent residence.

The night was getting chilly. Newt moved away from the gate into the depth of the cell. He found a relatively comfortable corner and curled up into a tight ball to fend off the cooling air. A small patch of the the starry night sky was visible through the grits of the gate. Newt remembered the first month he spent on the Glade. There were just him and Alby back then [*see end notes]. They would often lay together under the stars after a full day of adventure, and share the stories they salvage from their mangled memories. It was actually a good time.

Newt was lost in his own thoughts when a round face with a mop of messy curly hair suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

"Goodness, Chuck! I almost jumped out of my skin!" Newt flexed his body and stood up, with a bright smile forming on his lips.

"Hey Newt! Everything alright down there?" The chuby boy settled on his knees and tried his best to pick out Newt among the many shades of darkness inside the cell.  
"Well, except for the almost-heart-attack just now, I've been having a good time."  
"Really? I have been missing out on that 'fun' then. And I hope I can stay out." Chuck gave a light chuckle, which quickly turned into a sigh. "You should never have experienced this either... I don't know what was wrong with Gally." 

"It's alright, Chucky." Newt was amused by the sulking kid. "As the second-in-command, it's not a bad idea to try everything once. Who knows, maybe I'll even decide to renovate the cells after this." 

Chuck giggled at the comment. But the giggles abruptly ended when the kid was suddenly hit by a thought.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Are you hungury?" Chuck started taking several objects of different shapes and sizes out of his bag.  
Newt tried to stand on his toes to have a better look, but the light was too dim.  
"Let me see... here's some corn bread I saved, here's some meat stew from Frypan, and...you are not gonna believe this, some brew from Gally." Chuck widened his eyes theatrically as he introduced the beverage of the night, "Never know what's going on in his big old head."

Newt took the food items from the kid one by one through the grits of the cell gate: golden brown corn bread, a full pot of warm tomato meat stew, and half a bottle of the familiar brown fluid. He felt quite touched. The mention of Gally's name was not a big surprise to him since, after all, the Gally he had known had always been kind at heart.

"Brilliant! I'm starving." Newt sat down on the floor, laid out the food and started to dig in.  
The two friends exchanged casual conversations throughout the meal, about gossips on the Glade, about Thomas, about the world outside...  
Chuck leaned on the grits and watched Newt devouring the food in a strangely graceful manner. Faint starlight gathered on the blond hair, emitting a soothing aura. He wondered if this is what it's like to have a real brother.

After the hearty meal, Chuck packed away the containers and utensils, and left the older boy with a blanket that Alby had urged him to bring. 

Newt felt his body warming up a little bit. But still, the night air was cooling down by the minute. He wrapped himself snugly in the blanket and curled up again in his old corner. As he waited for the fairy of sweet slumber, his mind wandered out to Thomas and Minho. He was curious what the two boys were doing at the moment. The answer to this question arrived two minutes later.

"Shank! You awake? What the hell is going on? Are you crazy or stupid?!" Minho's voice tore through the silence of the night and caused Newt to jump out of his skin the second time.  
The blonde opened his eyes to the Asian's face hovering over the grits.  
"Bloody hell, Minho! Nice to see you, too." He got onto his feet and eyed at the Runner contemptuously, arms crossed in front of his chest. " But I recommend that you show more respects to your acting leader."  
"The acting leader would soon get overthrown if he keeps acting like a slinthead." Minho pointed out, "I don't know what's the problem with that shuckest shuck face these days. But if you keep being nice to him, he'll eat you up."

"What, are you jealous? Shank?"  
"Slinthead!"

"You two are arguing like an old couple." Thomas' head suddenly popped up over the grits next to Minho.  
"Shut up! Non of these would have happened if you didn't bolt into places where you shouldn't be." The Asian rolled his eyes.

"Sorry..." Thomas found it hard to argue. "We did end up killing a griever and finding the transmitter though. That's a first."  
The Greenie brightened up at the thought, and turned to Newt.  
"That number on the transmitter...It may have something to do with section 7 of the maze. We'll head there to check it out tomorrow." 

Thomas was unstoppable on his mission to break through those confining walls, just like a hound on a scent trail. His enthusiasm was very catchy. He had just joined the Gladers for a few days, but Newt felt he had revived the hope that had been dying in his heart all these years. For the first time in ages, he wished he was still a runner, he longed to leave this fake "oasis" and see the world outside.  
"Brilliant. Just remember to come back in one piece, will you?" Newt grinned, "It's all on you now, Tommy. Take us out of here."

 

While the two boys talk, Minho unloaded a large bag from his shoulder and took out what looked like half a dozen blankets.  
"What the bugging hell are you doing with all those blankets?"  
"They were for you. But I see you are already taken care of. So..." Minho laid a couple of blankets on he ground and moved to sit down on them, "I might as well use them myself and camp here, just in case a slinthead like you got frightened out here all by yourself." 

Newt arched an eyebrow at the comment.  
"Are you joking? I was looking forward to a night without you snoring by my ear." 

"May I borrow a few of those and join you guys?" Thomas gestured at the pile of blankets and asked expectantly.

"Actually, you know what?" Minho got up on his feet again and started to untie the ropes that held the cell gate, "It's freezing out here, I'll sleep in your cell."

"Are you mad?" Newt asked in disbelief, "You didn't even do anything to warrant a stay in the Pit."  
"I did come back early from the running today, maybe a couple hours before the gate closed. That counts as slacking, right?" Minho explained, "I'm definitely qualified to go in."  
"Then I'm qualified, too." Thomas exclaimed, "I didn't manage to kill any grievers today. Not up to my standards. Does that count as slacking? May I join you guys down there?"

Both Newt and Minho looked at the Greenie with furrowed eye brows, as if looking at someone insane.

====================================  
Chuck was astonished by the sight that greeted him at the bottom of the Pit when he came to release Newt in the morning. The Gladers were sleeping soundly in a large pile at the bottom of the cell, totally unaffected by the increasingly bright sunshine outside.

Chuck smirked and decided to leave them undisturbed. After all, one can't expect to see such a lovely sight everyday.

**Author's Note:**

> I have not read the books, and somehow thought Newt was the second one to arrive in the maze. It has been pointed out to me that this is not the case. So, sorry for the inaccuracy. But never the less, I find this setting very lovely. I've always wanted to see more interactions between the leader and the second-in-command.


End file.
